Collection Development


Material Selection Policy
It is the policy of the Holy Apostles Fr. Edward Wieland Memorial Library to provide a broad range of educational materials to enrich and support the curriculum and to meet the needs of the individual students and teachers. The professional staff should provide students with a wide range of materials of diverse appeal. Materials should be available in a variety of formats and represent varying levels of difficulty and varying points of view. In selecting materials, principles outweigh personal opinion. Materials are considered for their quality and appropriateness.

Responsibility
1. Holy Apostles School assumes legal responsibility for the selection of materials in the school library
2. Responsibility or the selection of all library materials is delgated to the librarian through the building principal
3. The selection process involves open opportunity for consultation with administrators, faculty and students.
4. Selection is based upon evaluation by the librarian and professional library tools and other review media

5. The collection will be developed respecting Catholic values and systematically ensuring global perspective, recognizing diversity, representing differing viewpoints, and presenting a well-balanced coverage of subjects and opinions. The collection will include a variety of formats (print, electronic, multimedia, etc.) and a wide range of current materials on various levels of difficulty supporting the diverse interests, learning styles, and viewpoints of the learning community.

Criteria for Selection

1. Materials should support and be consistent with the school's general educational goals and the educational goals
2. Materials should be selected to enrich and support both the curriculum and the personal needs of our students and faculty, taking into consideration diverse interests, abilities, socioeconomic backgrounds, maturity levels, and students’ extracurricular interests. Materials selected should encourage an appreciation for both informational and recreational reading, viewing, or listening.
3. Care will be taken to select materials of educational significance meeting standards of high quality in presentation, educational significance, aesthetic character, artistic quality, literary style, factual content, authenticity, readability, accuracy, durability, and technical production.
4. Materials should be considered relating to their overall purpose and their direct relationship to instructional objectives and/or the curriculum. Selected materials should support needs in the content areas and be appropriate to the variety of ages, developmental stages, ability levels, and learning styles represented by the particular facility for which they are chosen.
6. Materials should be selected respecting opposing points of view on controversial issues, encouraging individual analysis.
7. The literary style of a work should be appropriate and effective for the subject matter and its intended readers or viewers.
8. The value of any work must be examined as a whole. The impact of an entire work will be considered, transcending individual words, phrases, and incidents.
9. Resource sharing will be considered in purchasing decisions. Materials may be purchased or not purchased based on networking and collaborative relationships with other area collections and depending upon extent of need.
10. Gift materials will be evaluated by the criteria outlined above and shall be accepted or rejected in accordance with those criteria.

Procedures for Selection
The librarian, in conjunction with teachers will be responsible for the selection of materials. In coordinating this process, the librarian will use reputable, unbiased, professionally prepared selection aids when firsthand examination of materials is not possible. Among the sources to be consulted are:

AASA Science Books and Films
ALAs Award Winning book lists: Newberry, Prinz, Coretta Scott King, etc.
ALAN Review
American Film & Video Association Evaluations
Basic Book Collection for Elementary Grades
Basic Book Collection for Junior High Schools
The Best in Children’s Books
Booklist
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Catholic Library World

Children’s Software Review
Christian Library Journal
Criticas

Horn Book
Kirkus Reviews
Library Media Connection
Library Journal
Multicultural Book Reviews
Multimedia Schools
New York Times Book Review
Publishers Weekly
Reference Books for School Libraries
School Library Journal
VOYA
Such core collection tools as the Wilson Catalog series: Children’s Catalog, Junior High School Catalog, Senior High School Catalog
other sources as appropriate

These review resources are generally available through www.titlewave.com - for which the library has an account

3. Strongly consider the recommendations of faculty, students, and parents.
4. Judge gift items by standard selection criteria and, upon acceptance of such items, reserve the right to incorporate into the collection only those meeting the above criteria.
5. Purchase duplicates of extensively used material.
6. Purchase replacements for worn, damaged, or missing materials basic to the collection.
7. Determine a procedure for preventative maintenance and repair of material.

Weeding
The collection of the library information center will be continually reevaluated in relation to evolving curriculum, new material formats, new instructional methods, and the current needs of its users. Materials no longer appropriate should be removed. Lost and worn materials of lasting value should be replaced. Weeding is essential to maintaining a relevant, attractive collection. Materials considered for weeding should include items:
in poor physical condition
containing obsolete subject matter
no longer needed to support the curriculum or student/faculty interests
superseded by more current information
containing inaccurate information

Procedure for Challenged Materials
Parents/students challenging materials should submit the Request for Reconsideration of Materials From - addressed to the school librarian. The librarian will then discuss the matter with the school principal; together the decision about whether to remove an item will be made. Procedures and support suggested by the Cooperative Children's Book Center - UW Madison http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/freedom/steps.asp